Tree Skirts

My embroidery bug hit in and I decided I wanted to make a tree skirt.  I figured it can't be that hard.  Cut out a circle and a slit and then embroider on it.

I went out looking for fabric.  I wanted something that draped nicely and would be easy to embroider on.  Somehow I ended up coming home with two yards of navy blue velvet.  It's soft, luxerious and the owner gave me a 50% discount since it had a hole in the fabric.

Little did I know that you can't machine wash velvet and you can't really iron it.  You aren't supposed to hoop it or you'll leave imprints that don't come out..aka hoop burn.  Also my tree is white with blueish green ornaments.  I'm not sure how navy fits in, but I didn't think about that when I bought the fabric.

The designs are trees that look like ribbons.  They are beautiful but the reds/greens don't work with navy.  And the colors I have aren't the same as the design making it look more off.  I figured I'd see how silver/white worked.

First thing is a test sample.  I cut up a section, put two layers of stabilizer, placed the velvet on top of the hoop and put WSS over that.  Surprise!  Velvet is easy to embroider on and my Topaz did it with ease.   The colors..well, it makes you want to gag:

But..no hoop burn, no puckering and I managed to get the WSS off cutting very close to the design with small sharp scissors and carefully patting with warm water.  If you get sticky, it peels right off the velvet.

Now to get some templates printed out and marked on the skirt to embroider.